Sporting Madness

The stage is set for a classic showdown in the Windy City tonight between the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks at 8 P.M. Eastern. I'll be live-blogging it here, perhaps with some of the other Out of Left Field staff if they're able to make it. It's been a great series so far, with all of the games quite even and some tremendous play on both sides. So far, it's shaken out pretty much as I figured from my series preview ; the teams' forwards and defenders have pretty much canceled each other out at even strength, with many of the key goals coming on the power play. However, there is some attrition on the Canucks' lineup; Sami Salo , one of the team's top defencemen, and Pavol Demitra , a key part of the Canucks' secondary scoring, are both expected to miss tonight's game due to injuries. Salo was also out for Game Three, but the Canucks pulled it off without him. Probably the biggest question is which Roberto Luongo will show up for the C...

Well, the Jim Balsillie story continues to develop. The most interesting news since my last post is that of Gary Bettman 's apocalyptic reaction yesterday [ James Mirtle , From the Rink ]. I'll have more analysis on this one later, but for now, I figured I'd start the day with an appropriate song. Here is my version of "The Ballad of Jim and Gary" (apologies to The Beatles ): Standing on the plane down to Phoenix, Trying to get the team refinanced. The man in the back said, "Jim Balsillie's back". I said "Hell no! Just give us a chance." Jim, you know it ain't easy, You know how hard it can be. But the way things are going You're gonna crucify me. At first, things with Jim went so well, In Pittsburgh, we thought he'd be fine. But then the press called to say, "He wants to move away," So I told him he had to refrain. Jim, you know it ain't easy, You know how hard it can be. But the way things are going You're ...

I'll be live-blogging the first match of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC here tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. Pacific). This is a big one; it's the first match in a six-game set to see which Canadian team emerges triumphant with the Voyageurs Cup and a coveted berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. You can check out my match preview at The 24th Minute . Hope to see you here then! Whitecaps - TFC live blog

The perfect storm continues to build and a second NHL team in Southern Ontario comes closer by the day. Back in October, this was only informal discussions among NHL governors; late April saw NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly engage in protracted meetings with interested parties about a team in Vaughan . I predicted a while back over at Out of Left Field that NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly would have to be heavily involved for this to have any chance, and lo and behold, the players' association jumped in full force [ Tim Wharnsby on the side of this relocation. The next crucial element was a team in significant trouble; enter the Phoenix Coyotes, a team heavily in debt, apparently run by the league [ Greg Wyshynski , Puck Daddy ] and entering bankruptcy protection [ Craig Harris , The Arizona Republic ]. All that remained to be found was a prospective owner rich enough to buy the team, throw enough cash into the black hole to keep them operating in Phoenix until he coul...

Apologies for the lack of new posts recently; it's been a crazy couple of days. I do have a couple of pieces that should be ready today or tomorrow. Until then, check out this excellent piece from Jason Davis of Match Fit USA ; Jason thought up some great questions about where American soccer and MLS will be in 2019 and got responses from two well-informed sources ( Zach Woosley of Ginge Talks The Footy and Chris Nee of twofootedtackle ), as well as myself. Check it out!

Tonight's USL action features the 1-1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps against the 0-2-2 Minnesota Thunder. Both teams haven't gotten off to a great start this year, so they'll be looking to improve. Central defender Jeff Parke is expected to make his debut for the Whitecaps after serving his suspension. It should be a good one. Join me in the live blog below! Whitecaps - Thunder live blog

The rivalry continues between Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew today in Toronto's first match with Chris Cummins as their official interim head coach. Join in the live blog below! Toronto FC - Columbus Crew